POT CRUSADER ROLLS TO NOMINATION

Nothing comes easy when you try to run for Canada's new pot party. You
can't even think about ordering buttons and brochures until you collect 100
signatures on your nomination papers -- a tall order for a would-be
candidate for a party barely visible on the political radar screen.

And that's why, hours before yesterday's 2 p.m. deadline, the Marijuana
party's Tim Berg was at Richmond and Dundas streets, seeking signatures.

Berg made it. He'll be on the ballot in London-North-Centre Nov. 27. And
he's elated because it gives him a soap box to push his party's call to
legalize marijuana.

Berg has a deep personal interest in this fight. Marijuana has helped him
with continuing pain since he broke a vertebra and crushed a heel in a 1983
skydiving accident.

Prescription drugs caused incapacitating side effects, he said. Smoking pot
offered relief by easing pain and relaxing muscles. "I'm still in pain to a
degree but it allows me to function."

Berg knows the chances of a Marijuana party candidate winning office are
less than getting hit by lightning, but that's not the point. This campaign
is about letting people know about the party's plan for legalizing pot with
what it calls health and safety safeguards.

"People are recognizing a person's right to use marijuana for medical
purposes," he said.

"It shows Canadians are tolerant and compassionate."

The Montreal-based party, formed this year, expects to field more than 70
candidates across Canada on Nov. 27.

Support is growing rapidly in Ontario, said provincial organizer Paul Lewin.

"It looks like we're going to have 10 or 11 candidates confirmed in the
Toronto area," he said. "We were around half that a week ago."